Jerez testing day 1: Raikkonen leads first day of 2012 testing

In the first of a 4-day test session in Jerez, Kimi Raikkonen kicked off the 2012 pre-season testing by topping the timesheets.

The Finn set a 1:19.670 to put his Lotus E2o on top, one tenth of a second ahead of Paul di Resta in the Force India VJM05. Nico Rosberg was 3rd in last year’s Mercedes car.

Red Bull had a slow start to the first day of testing, with fog delaying the arrival of parts for Mark Webber’s RB8. He eventually set 51 laps, finishing 4th. Sister team Toro Rosso were delayed by an oil leak, although Daniel Ricciardo still made it to 5th place.

Neither Caterham or Williams got much running of their cars, with Heikki Kovalainen and Pastor Maldonado finishing 10th and 11th. HRT’s Pedro de la Rosa was 0.3 seconds off the Williams in last year’s F111.